Help needed with product photography.

IanC

IanC

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Ian
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Good evening everyone. I have been approached by a friend of mine to see if I can take some pictures for a whole range of shoes that he sells. They will be used on a new website he is having built.

I have a few questions so bear with me.

Does anyone have any good links to a good tutorial for this?

I have a Sigma 17-70mm which has a 1:2 macro ratio, will this lens be suitable?

Im looking at building my own Light Box using this link .... http://www.studiolighting.net/homemade-light-box-for-product-photography/ will that do the job?

Im hoping that if im successful with this then I can then move forward and start to branch out and obtain jobs photographing products as a side career.

Thanks for any help given. :thumbs::help:
 
I'm going through this myself for our business (dresses). Hopefully shoes are going to be easier!
a few random thoughts from my untutored confusion:

just for website? what size final images?, or could they be used for printed brochures too? that would change the image quality requirements a bit.

does the shoe manufacturer provide any product photos?

"macro" is unlikely to be important, but minimum focus distance needs to be checked.

Watch for lens distortion. I prefer my nifty fifty as it gives less distortion than my zoom, but with dresses in my small lounge based studio I don't always have the space to get far enough away to use it, . . . hmmmm . . . closeup of shoes could be fun with a fisheye distortion as an arty illustration, but not as the factual product shots

I got the book Light:Science & Magic and that trashed a lot of my original product lighting ideas, now I'm not convinced by light tents, especially on reflective products, you don't always want bright reflection of lighting surfaces, you may need darkness to be reflected, depends on subject, angles etc.

also do you really want a pure white background or placement in context (eg. with props), or ability to apply a standard uniform background ?
 
Wookie said:
now I'm not convinced by light tents, especially on reflective products, you don't always want bright reflection of lighting surfaces, you may need darkness to be reflected, depends on subject, angles etc.

also do you really want a pure white background or placement in context (eg. with props), or ability to apply a standard uniform background ?
Click to expand...

You hit the nail on the head for me right here :)

Don't just opt for the easy option of fairly flat lighting. Not with shoes. Ladies are shoe buyers and we don't want flat boring lighting! We want something sexy! :nuts:

If it helps go and take a walk round some higher end shoe shops and look at how they are displayed. Not joking! I once took a pic of a pair of gold shoes in a shop window just because they were so exquisitely lit!

Don't compromise but get inventive! :D
 
Wookie said:
I'm going through this myself for our business (dresses). Hopefully shoes are going to be easier!
a few random thoughts from my untutored confusion:

just for website? what size final images?, or could they be used for printed brochures too? that would change the image quality requirements a bit.

does the shoe manufacturer provide any product photos?

"macro" is unlikely to be important, but minimum focus distance needs to be checked.

Watch for lens distortion. I prefer my nifty fifty as it gives less distortion than my zoom, but with dresses in my small lounge based studio I don't always have the space to get far enough away to use it, . . . hmmmm . . . closeup of shoes could be fun with a fisheye distortion as an arty illustration, but not as the factual product shots

I got the book Light:Science & Magic and that trashed a lot of my original product lighting ideas, now I'm not convinced by light tents, especially on reflective products, you don't always want bright reflection of lighting surfaces, you may need darkness to be reflected, depends on subject, angles etc.

also do you really want a pure white background or placement in context (eg. with props), or ability to apply a standard uniform background ?
Click to expand...

These will be mainly for the website although I will get the the best ones printed for my portfiolio.

Im guessing its really up to my friend what background he wants. I would love to hear peoples suggestions on a decent background. I should add that the shoes are predominantly kids shoes
 
IanC said:
The website appears to be down, have you used this studio yourself?
Click to expand...

Works on my HTC hero!

No, not used it myself but there was a thread about it on here a week or so back. I have a light tent from ebay, but tempted with one of these as it comes with the lights too.
 
Ahhh kids shoes!

How about using some props like a skipping rope or a skateboard?

Not only does the inclusion of props add a bit of interest but it helps with scale too.
 
Thanks for the ideas everyone, props sound good!

The link in my 1st post shoes a DIY style lightbox. Can anyone tell me if this would do the job?
 
foam board ? why? if you're determined to do a lashup then forget foamboard and use whatever you can get. Gaffer/duct/masking/sello tape and cardboard boxes, shower curtains, net curtains, photocopier paper, old T-shirt, . . . whatever is cheaply (or better, freely) available.
 
Wookie said:
foam board ? why? if you're determined to do a lashup then forget foamboard and use whatever you can get. Gaffer/duct/masking/sello tape and cardboard boxes, shower curtains, net curtains, photocopier paper, old T-shirt, . . . whatever is cheaply (or better, freely) available.
Click to expand...

Im gonna stick with the foamboard me thinks because I still want it to look half decent! :lol:
 
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